MUMBAI: A 32-year-old woman from Palghar was arrested for allegedly strangling her five-day old daughter and dumping the body in an isolated spot.
The murder came to light when health workers who visited the new mother on Tuesday, found the baby missing and got suspicious. They informed the police.
Assistant inspector Suresh Salunke of Tarapur police station where a case of murder has been registered against Shreya Prabhu said though the motive behind the murder is not clear, Shreya said that she did not want a third child. Police said Shreya has two children, a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son, who stays with her husband Prabhu in Mumbai. Police said they are investigating if she killed the newborn because it was a girl child.
Shreya, who was living alone in Ghivali village in Palghar for over a year, delivered a healthy baby girl weighing 2,700 grams on August 30 in a government hospital. She was discharged two days later. On September 3, when health (ASHA) workers visited her home, the baby’s weight was 3,100 grams.
On September 11 when the ASHA workers visited Shreya’s home again, they did not find the baby. Shreya informed them that her baby was kept at a relative’s place in Vangaon in Dahanu taluka. They insisted that Shreya bring the baby back and breast feed her at intervals. Shreya’s behaviour aroused suspicion and the the workers approached the Tarapur police at around 10pm on September 11.
A police team, including a lady cop and social workers went to Shreya’s home. Neighbours told the police that they had seen Shreya leaving the home with the baby on September 4. When she returned the next day, she was not carrying the baby. After several rounds of interrogation, at around 2am on September 12, Shreya confessed to having strangled her daughter on September 4, a day after the workers visited the mother and child. She wrapped the body in a cloth and carried the baby in her arms. She disposed of the body around 100 meters away from her home and travelled to Mumbai to visit her mother.
API Salunke said Shreya was misleading them when asked about where she had disposed of the body. The body was highly decomposed. A spot post-mortem of the body was conducted and the samples have been sent for DNA matching. Shreya, a housewife, told the police that she did not want a third child and killed her at the spur of the moment.
The murder came to light when health workers who visited the new mother on Tuesday, found the baby missing and got suspicious. They informed the police.
Assistant inspector Suresh Salunke of Tarapur police station where a case of murder has been registered against Shreya Prabhu said though the motive behind the murder is not clear, Shreya said that she did not want a third child. Police said Shreya has two children, a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son, who stays with her husband Prabhu in Mumbai. Police said they are investigating if she killed the newborn because it was a girl child.
Shreya, who was living alone in Ghivali village in Palghar for over a year, delivered a healthy baby girl weighing 2,700 grams on August 30 in a government hospital. She was discharged two days later. On September 3, when health (ASHA) workers visited her home, the baby’s weight was 3,100 grams.
On September 11 when the ASHA workers visited Shreya’s home again, they did not find the baby. Shreya informed them that her baby was kept at a relative’s place in Vangaon in Dahanu taluka. They insisted that Shreya bring the baby back and breast feed her at intervals. Shreya’s behaviour aroused suspicion and the the workers approached the Tarapur police at around 10pm on September 11.
A police team, including a lady cop and social workers went to Shreya’s home. Neighbours told the police that they had seen Shreya leaving the home with the baby on September 4. When she returned the next day, she was not carrying the baby. After several rounds of interrogation, at around 2am on September 12, Shreya confessed to having strangled her daughter on September 4, a day after the workers visited the mother and child. She wrapped the body in a cloth and carried the baby in her arms. She disposed of the body around 100 meters away from her home and travelled to Mumbai to visit her mother.
API Salunke said Shreya was misleading them when asked about where she had disposed of the body. The body was highly decomposed. A spot post-mortem of the body was conducted and the samples have been sent for DNA matching. Shreya, a housewife, told the police that she did not want a third child and killed her at the spur of the moment.
